Friends and family of Town fan Gary Battle, who died aged 52 following a brave fight against a brain tumour on April 5th, are asking fellow supporters to hold a minute’s applause after the clock ticks past the 52-minute mark during Saturday’s home game against Middlesbrough.
TWTD readers may recall Steve Kirby raising funds so best friend Gary could fulfil one of the entries on his bucket list, watching a Portman Road match from an executive area.
More than £3,000 was raised and Gary saw the FA Cup tie against Maidstone from the Sir Bobby Robson Suite, meeting a number of current players as well as Blues legend John Wark. Sadly, that proved to be Gary’s last Town match.
"I'm trying to see if we can get one minute’s applause on 52 minutes during Saturday’s game against Middlesbrough for my good friend Gary Battle, who sadly passed away on Friday 5th April after a courageous fight against a stage four brain tumour,” Steve said.
"He was a lifelong Blue and one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. Let's see if we can do Gary proud and show his wife Nina Battle (pictured with Gary above) how much love there is for him.”
Funds are being raised in Gary’s memory for the St Elizabeth Hospice and Ipswich Town Foundation.